The Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW team took their third win of the 2023 Isle of Man TT Races yesterday, with Peter Hickman delivering a masterclass in the Milwaukee Senior TT Race, claiming the victory by 19.989 seconds aboard the BMW M 1000 RR.
With the Superbike issues from Sunday’s race clearly behind them, Hickman took the lead from Dean [Harrison] on the opening lap on the run to Ballaugh, with the first-ever sub-three-minute sector time and didn’t look back.
Hickman’s opening lap of 135.349mph – the quickest ever standing start – saw him 6.1 seconds head of Harrison, as they started the second rotation of the Mountain Course. Through Glen Helen Hicky’s advantage had extended to 7.4 seconds, aided by another new sector time.
Setting the fastest lap of the race, 135.507mph on the second lap the FHO Racing rider came into the pits for the first pit stop of the six-lap race where he was holding a ten second lead. A quicker stop by Harrison brought the lead down to eight seconds at Glen Helen, however Hickman and the M 1000 RR were on a mission and at the end of the second lap the lead had extended back to almost ten seconds.
On the fourth lap Hicky’s lead had grown to 12.38s ahead of Harrison, with a lap speed of 134.822mph, but it was reduced slightly after the final pit stop. Throughout the remainder of the race Hickman’s lead was gradually extending, and once he’d passed Michael Dunlop on the road it was up to 15s.
As the chequered flag came out for the final time of the 2023 Isle of Man TT Races, Hickman crossed the line 19.989 seconds ahead of Harrison, with Dunlop third, to claim his 13th TT victory, his third Senior TT win and setting a new Senior TT lap record (135.507mph).
For teammate Josh Brookes the Milwaukee Senior TT rounded off a successful return to the Mountain Course, where during the race he beat his personal best lap time to join the 132mph club, with a lap time of 132.529mph on a Superstock-spec BMW M 1000 RR.
On the opening lap Brookes was sixth with James Hillier just ahead, but it wasn’t long until the Aussie started to close the gap and on the second lap, he was just 0.098s adrift. Through Glen Helen for the second time, Brookes overhauled Hillier for fifth and held onto the position to the chequered flag.
The 2023 Isle of Man TT Races has been a successful event for the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW team with Peter Hickman winning both RL360 Superstock races, as well as the Milwaukee Senior TT. Faye Ho’s squad has also collected various lap records across the week including the outright TT lap record with the BMW M 1000 RR.
The FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team now have a few days back at the workshop, before heading to Scotland for the fourth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship which takes place from Friday 16 – Sunday 18 June at Knockhill.
Peter Hickman:
“That’s the 2023 TT Races done and dusted and the Monster Energy by FHO Racing team have done a fantastic job, the Superbike has been super-hard work for the two weeks and the boys have worked tirelessly to get it working to how I wanted it to. We did the morning warm-up and before I got to the bottom of Bray Hill I had a massive sigh of relief and knew straight away that the boys had cracked it. I think a lot of people thought I was making excuses last Sunday, but the truth is I’m just an honest person and if I have a problem, I’m happy to say I’ve got a problem. This year the Superbike class has been a tough one, we showed what we can do in Superstock where we had no problems at all. In the Senior it was great to see that Dean [Harrison] got out the right side of the bed and gave us a run for our money, Michael’s [Dunlop] has been super-fast for the last two weeks, which is fantastic to see and healthy competition is exactly what we want! The fact that the other boys are pushing us on, makes us work harder, try harder and race harder, we also know that coming back next year we’ll have another go at it. Thank you to everyone for the support over this TT!”
Josh Brookes:
“It’s been great to be back at the TT again after five years and I’ve really enjoyed racing. The first week was a bit up and down, the opening night was a real shock to the system and to re-learn things, then the second night didn’t really go to plan, and I had to regroup from there. But once we were back into the swing of it, I improved lap by lap and throughout practice and into race week. Seeing Pete get the Superstock wins and the Senior at the end was great not only for Pete but for the whole FHO team. In the race I finished fifth and improved my personal best time breaking the 132mph barrier, which was a great result. I’m certainly happy with it and feel good for what I’ve been able to achieve at this year’s TT.”
Faye Ho – Team Principal:
“I’m really pleased with the results this week; the team has achieved so much and have put together a very good package for both Pete and Josh to ride. Pete’s results have been incredible and to get the lap records he’s got for FHO Racing, I couldn’t be prouder. I know the boys have their own goals as they arrive at the TT, but for me I wanted a lap record for FHO Racing and we achieved that with the outright TT lap record. I’m also really pleased for Josh and the progression he made over the event; he’d been away for five years, came back and just went for it. He improved over each session and then to get that 132mph lap at the end and finish fifth in the Senior, he’s done such a good job. I’d like to thank everyone in the team for all their hard work, at times it was a tough week, but we got there in the end, thanks also to our sponsors and partners, the TT team for putting on such a fantastic event, the Marshals and of course all of our fans and supporters.”
